Prosecutor seeks death penalty in Ottawa killings

FILE - Kyle Flack, 28, of Ottawa, who is charged in connection with the killing of three adults and an 18-month-old girl in 2013, listens to testimony, Tuesday, March 11, 2014, in Ottawa, Kan. (AP Photo/The Ottawa Herald, Abby Eckel, Pool)

OTTAWA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas prosecutor filed a motion Tuesday seeking the death penalty against a man accused in the brutal shooting deaths of four people last spring, including an 18-month-old toddler.

Kyle Flack, 28, of rural Ottawa, is charged with one count of capital murder for the deaths last spring of Kaylie Smith Bailey, 21, and her 18-month-old daughter, Lana-Leigh Bailey. He also is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Bailey’s boyfriend, Andrew Stout, 30, and his roommate, Steven White, 31.

Franklin County prosecutor Stephen Hunting said the deaths of Bailey and her daughter qualify for the death penalty in Kansas because they were killed as part of the same occurrence for the same reason, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

The deaths of Stout and White did not qualify for capital punishment, but Hunting filed a motion Tuesday seeking two Hard 50 sentences against Flack for those killings. Under those sentences, he would not be eligible for parole for 50 years.

At his arraignment Tuesday, Flack stood silently as District Judge Eric Godderz entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. His jury trial is scheduled to begin in September 2015.

The bodies of Kaylie Bailey, Stout and White were found last spring at Stout’s farm in Ottawa, about 50 miles southwest of Kansas City. Investigators found Lana-Leigh’s body a few days later in neighboring Osage County.

Prosecutors have said they believe the killings happened in late April and early May of last year.

During a preliminary hearing last month, Franklin County Sheriff’s Detective Jeremi Thompson testified that Flack told investigators during questioning on May 9, 2013, before he was formally charged, that Stout argued with White over rent and followed him to the garage carrying a shotgun.

Flack told authorities that Stout fired on White, hitting him in the chest, and then handed the gun to Flack.

“I shot him, he dies,” the investigator said Flack told him.

Erik Mitchell, a forensic pathologist and physician and former Shawnee County coroner, testified at that hearing that all four victims were killed by shotgun blasts.